


Both Halves

by mustangsgloves



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Young!Royai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 08:10:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9063640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mustangsgloves/pseuds/mustangsgloves
Summary: Roy is a sweet, easily excitable dork, and Riza puts up with his antics... and somehow, they accidentally end up having a great Solstice.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Secret Santa gift for someone on tumblr, and this was prompted by an ask on tumblr... anyways - I hope you all enjoy it!

Roy runs a hand through his dark hair, sighing as he glares outside the window at the disappointingly bare ground surrounding the Hawkeye house.  Solstice Eve, and still no snow.  It frustrates him more than it should, really.  The last time he heard from his Aunt a few days prior, Central had been covered in a thin blanket of snow, and was likely going to be visited by a large winter storm for the next week or so.

When Roy had expressed his displeasure at these extremely unfair circumstances, Riza had softly reminded him that it had snowed here last year, and the year before that and so on, and that this year was simply a drier one than usual.  But he couldn’t help but feel cheated.  Eastern Amestris was generally covered in snow from late November to almost early March, but this season it had only been unbearably cold temperatures with a disappointing lack of precipitation.

 

* * *

 

Shaking his head, Roy turns back to the assigned reading in front of him, only to find himself gazing longingly out the window a minute later.  He huffs with annoyance before slamming the book shut, ignoring the cloud of dust that plumes upward, and leans back in his chair.  While he knows he should continue to study, the fact that Master Hawkeye is out of town for the next two weeks for some research opportunity makes it very difficult for Roy to guilt himself into completing the reading. He tells himself that he’ll read after Solstice, catch up on everything.  And besides, it isn’t even  _that_  much reading…kind of. 

Pushing the responsible thoughts out of his head, Roy stands up and pads into the kitchen, taking his textbook with him just in case he changes his mind, which will be very unlikely.  Just as he had hoped, his master’s daughter sits at the table, cradling a steaming mug of peppermint tea and pouring over an old Aeurogean romance novel that Roy remembers from his first few months here.

“Are you ever going to get tired of that book?” he asks as he plops down across from her.

Riza glances up, looking slightly startled, before returning her focus to the book.  “No,” she replies.  “It’s a classic.”

“I didn’t think you were that into romance,” Roy teases.  He sees her roll her eyes as she turns a worn page.

“Well, you thought wrong,” she retorts.

“Are you waiting for your own tall, dark, smart, confident and dashingly handsome individual to sweep you off your feet?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow as he waits for her to look back at him.  His smile widens and he jokingly flexes his arm, knowing full well that he looks like an idiot.

Sighing, he watches as Riza puts her small length of string in between the pages and closes the book, warily looking over at him.  She seems to consider something before her face takes on an appearance of honest nonchalance.  He drops his arm, curious.

She stands, and Roy’s eyes follow as she shrugs her shoulders.  “Actually, Mr. Mustang,” she says, “I’ll have you know that my ideal man is short, blonde, portly, and extremely uneducated.”

Roy’s eyes widen, and a slightly horrified look crosses onto his face.

She grabs her mug, smiling sweetly at him.  “Oh, and I forgot to mention one key thing.  He simply  _must_  have facial hair too, preferably a mustache.  It’s what some may call a ‘deal breaker,’ actually.”

She turns before he can see her triumphant grin and exits the kitchen, making her way to the small library down the hall. 

It takes Roy a few moments before his body catches up to his mind.  His mouth opens and closes wordlessly before he scrambles out of his chair clutching his textbook, pausing only briefly to grab the other book that sat forgotten on the table, and jogging after the blonde girl. 

His socks slip on the wooden floor as he propels himself through the doorway to follow her.  He catches her before she has gone too far, unconsciously handing her the book– which she takes without second thought – and Roy holds his own large book to his chest, bending down slightly.

Suddenly, he realized just how much taller he was than her – almost a whole foot – something that must’ve happened just over the past year.  She’s the perfect height to rest his chin on if they hugged… He pauses for a moment, shaking off the random thought, before walking again.

He frowns slightly as they enter the cozy, book-filled room.

“Short, blonde, and portly?” he questions.  She had said the words with such seriousness that he couldn’t tell for sure if she was messing with him.  He hoped she was... “A mustache?!”

Riza sits down in one of the ancient armchairs.  “Yes, Mr. Mustang.  What about that is so difficult for you to comprehend?”

He blinks.  “All of it?” he says sheepishly.

Huffing, she reopens her book.  “I was hoping you’d be more understanding,” she sighs.  “I guess I won’t be sharing any more of my deep dark secrets.”

Roy frowns, leaning towards her as he catches a glimmer of humor in her brown eyes.  _Oh_ ,  _of course_ … He mentally smacks himself for believing her for even a fraction of a moment.

Well, two could play at this game…

Roy makes a show of sighing loudly as he sits down in the chair opposite.  “Well I guess it’s only fair that I tell you about my ideal woman.”

“Oh?” she asks, not even glancing up from her reading.

“Yes,” he replies, fighting down his slight frustration at her lack of reaction.  “My ideal woman is tall, dark haired, boisterous almost to the point of annoyance, also uneducated, and extremely boring.”

“Mmmhmm,” she hums.  “How lovely.”

Roy frowns.  “I was kidding.”

“So was I,” she replies.  She continues teasingly, “and it seems you picked up on it.”

“I know you better than you think, Riza,” he retorts grumpily.  “Give me some credit.”

“I had you for a while there though, Mr. Mustang,” she laughs.  Roy fights down a weird flipping feeling in his stomach at the sound.

“Briefly,” he admits, rubbing the back of his neck.  “But next time don’t say facial hair, that’s just repulsive.”

She laughs again, once again prompting the lately more and more common twist in his stomach.

“I’m glad we agree,” she replies.

The two sit in silence for a few minutes before Roy speaks up once again.

“Should I make a fire before the house gets too much colder?”

“Probably a good idea,” she says.  “Father warned about the cold weather before he left this morning.”  She glances up to gauge his reaction as she continues.  “He said that it even is supposed to snow for the next few days.” 

Roy can’t help it, but he feels his face light up almost childishly at her words. “Then half of my Christmas wish will come true!”

Riza smiles.  “Only half?”

Roy hears the rest of her unsaid question.  “I can’t tell you the second part, if I do, it won’t come true.”

“You know you act like you’re a child, sometimes?”

“Yes,” Roy says as he stands up, exiting the library to go outside and collect some firewood.  “And I see absolutely no issues with that.”

He’s already out of the room when Riza quietly says “neither do I.”

 

* * *

 

The two sit in comfortable silence – save the quiet crackling of the fire – for the next few hours.  Roy surprises himself by reading more of his complex alchemy text, and Riza reads almost a hundred pages before the warm and welcoming atmosphere lulls her to sleep.  It’s only a few minutes before Roy follows, his head nodding down against his chest.

It’s the chiming of the old grandfather clock that wakes Roy from his impromptu slumber.  Yawning, he blinks sleep from his eyes, and then squints at the time: 11:42, he’d slept for almost five hours.  Quickly remembering the other person in the room, Roy listens as Riza exhales in little puffs, she too being sound asleep.  The entire room feels almost in a dreamlike state, peaceful, warm, content, quiet…

And then he looks outside.

Stifling a yelp of excitement, Roy jumps out of his chair and practically sprints over to the window.  Pulling the curtain aside even further, Roy gazes up to see white flakes falling lazily from a purple-hued sky.  His exhales leave warm circles on the window that ebb and flow in time with his quickening breaths.  The glass is cold against his skin.

A smile grows on his face as he quietly turns away from the window to face the sleeping girl nearby.

When his gaze finds her, his breath catches slightly in his throat. 

Riza is curled up in her armchair, her book resting haphazardly on the small table adjacent.  Her bangs fall on her face, and each breath she takes sends them fluttering slightly.  She’s smiling slightly.  Roy swallows, and takes a painstakingly slow step towards the door so he can exit and not wake her.

No such luck.  He steps on the single creaky floorboard in the library.

Biting down a scathing curse, he glances over to where the girl stirs.  She blinks from her eyes and frowns at him.

“Mr. Mustang?” she says.  “What’re you doing?”

He offers her a sheepish smile and points towards the window.  “Snowing?” he supplies.

He doesn’t miss the way her face lights up before she looks at him with humor glinting in her eyes.  “And you were going to go outside  _without_  me?” she demands teasingly. 

“Oh, would never dream of it,” he replies, grinning as she eases herself out of the cramped armchair.  “I was simply going to go get our scarves.”

“All right whatever you say,” she replies, rolling her eyes.  “But let’s get going!”

Minutes later, the two stand outside on the back steps of the house, not talking as they watch the snow silently come down.  In the faint lavender brightness of the sky that always seemed to accompany snow, he sees the outlines of the top of the trees at the edge of the Hawkeye’s large yard.

Roy tries to ignore the way that his and Riza’s hands accidently brush against each other as they stand there.  After a minute, and before he loses his nerve, he hooks their pinkies together, ignoring the growing butterflies in his stomach.

A moment later, however, he feels her hand slip into his.  He grins.

“So, Mr. Mustang,” Riza begins suddenly.  “Half of your Solstice wish came true.  Here’s your long-awaited snow.”

Chuckling, he replies, “you’re right about that.  But actually, all of it came true - both halves.”

She looks at him, raising an eyebrow.  He tries to ignore the warmth that floods his chest as he takes in her flushed cheeks and the small smile on her face. 

“Oh? And what was the second half?” she asks.  He knows that she knows what the second part of his wish was, but it doesn’t stop him from saying it.

“To spend it with you,” he says, looking up to the sky.  He squeezes her hand and tries to fight down the growing blush on his own face.

“Well then,” she replies slowly.  “There’s another thing we agree on, Mr. Mustang.”  He turns to look at her again.  “Our hatred for mustaches, and our mutual desire to spend Solstice together.”

He laughs, loudly and brightly, and she joins in.  Giving in to his seemingly random realization from earlier that evening, Roy turns so that he’s facing her and takes a step forward, holding his arms out. Riza pauses for a split second, before closing the gap between them and wrapping her own arms around his taller body. He smiles as he rests his chin on her head. 

The snow silently keeps falling, enveloping the world in a serene layer of peace and quiet.

“Happy Solstice, Riza,” he says softly.

“Happy Solstice, Roy,” she replies.

**Author's Note:**

> I really want to write more of them both young and old... what a problem :')


End file.
